The Time of My Life
by XxXBrOkEnStArXxX
Summary: Dr. Morris is just starting to get his life back on track when County's new Attending shows up and she just so happens to be one of his old classmates from Med School that made his life a living hell - can it change? Morris/OFC R&R! MORRIS LOVE!
1. It's Not Your Fault

**Disclaimer:** This story is a complete work of fiction…I don't own any of the ER characters…just my original one. Reviews are appreciated =)

**The Time of My Life**

**- It's Not Your Fault -**

"Time of death…9:50 AM" Dr. Archie Morris said as he frustratingly took off his blood covered gloves and threw them in the trash.

He turned off the monitors and left the other Nurses and interns alone in the trauma room to clean up the mess.

"Hey, are you ok?" Sam asked him as he started going through his patients chart.

"Yeah, I'm fine…are you?" he asked her.

"I know how much you liked him" Sam said referring to Dr. Morris's now deceased patient.

"He was a common day hero…he didn't deserve to die the way that he did" Morris said as he closed the patients chart and then tossed it aside.

Sam didn't know what else to say as she watched Morris walk away.

Part of her couldn't help but question his recent actions and words…it had only been two weeks since Dr. Greg Pratt; one of their own had died in that same Trauma Room. It was as if it was a nightmare, it still gave Sam goose bumps, thinking back to that horrid day. Poor Morris was a mess, a complete and utter mess until about a week ago when he started coming into work on time and playing by the rules instead of following his own methods.

Dr. Morris was doing fine until earlier this morning. He learned that his patient, a forty year old, male Firefighter who was just married a month prior to his accident, was now septic and had not even a week left…Morris knew it was only a matter of time he just wished he wouldn't screw it up. He had taken a strong liking to this patient, in a strange way he somewhat reminded him of Greg.

Wanting to avoid everybody, especially his patient's wife who was being comforted by a Nurse, he managed to slip right into the Doctors Lounge, undetected. He poured himself a cup of coffee and took a few sips before finally exhaling the breath he felt he had been holding in all day.

"Hey man, are you ok?" Dr. Gates asked as he made his way over to Dr. Morris.

"Yeah, I'm fine…and you?" Morris answered him.

"I'm good but you…you don't seem too hot" Gates said to him.

Morris looked up at him with weary eyes.

"What makes you say that?" he asked curiously.

"Sam told me about your patient…I'm sorry Archie" Gates said to him.

Morris just looked at Gates and shook his head.

"I've got rounds" Morris said as he went to walk away but Gates stopped him.

"Archie, I know that you still blame yourself for Greg's death" Gates said to him.

Archie stopped dead in his tracks with his back facing Gates as he continued to speak.

"It wasn't your fault…it wasn't anyone's fault…and after all these years you should know that…patients die and as long as you do everything that you possibly can to help them-" Gates was cut off by Morris.

"Do you know what Greg's last words were to me? It was don't screw this up Morris…and I did" Morris said as he thought back to that exact moment he knew he would never forget.

"You didn't screw up anything! You did everything that you possibly could but in the end it wasn't up to you, me or anyone else here and you know that" Gates said to him.

"How? How am I supposed to know that? Everyone seems ok! Everyone acts as if nothing even happened and that Dr. Greg Pratt is on some well deserved vacation in the South of France or something!" Morris snapped as he turned back around to face him.

"Archie, you know that's not true…we all loved Greg and miss him…you weren't the only one he took under his wing" Gates said.

Archie just looked at Gates and then hung his head in shame, Gates was right.

"You know Greg was the only doctor here that actually treated me like a doctor when I came here" Morris said to him.

"Same here, he had a way of seeing through people…he would've made an excellent Chief" Gates said with a smile.

"I know" Morris said.

They both smiled at the thought, Morris couldn't help but think about how much better the ER would've been with Greg in charge.

"Thanks Gates" Morris said to him.

"No problem" Gates said as they both went to walk towards the door but the door was already open as Sam stood in the doorway yelling at them.

"There you are! Didn't you get any of my pages?" Sam said to them both.

They didn't say anything as Gates took the lead, followed by Morris.

"Gates, Trauma Two needs you and Morris…behind that curtain over there is a patient with a broken leg refusing any kind of medical treatment" Sam said to them.

"I'm on it" Gates said as he made a beeline towards Trauma Two leaving behind Sam and a now confused and annoyed Morris.

"What the hell did I ever do to you? Why do I get the obvious whack job? Where are the interns?" Morris said looking around the chaotic ER for any intern he could grab.

"The interns are in Trauma One and Two, sorry" Sam said handing him the patients chart.

Morris looked through the patients chart and then stopped when he saw the main diagnosis written on the admittance paper.

"Where are the x-rays?" he asked Sam.

"The patient refused" she answered him sounding as if she knew exactly where he was going with this.

"Without an x-ray, how do we know it's a broken leg? It could be sprained or tendonitis and who writes these patient histories? Who cares that the guy enjoys reading before he goes to sleep? Get me that x-ray, I don't care how you get it…just get it" Morris said to her.

"Welcome back Archie" Sam said with a smile as she walked off leaving Morris standing there feeling pretty good about himself.


	2. Reliving the Past in Your Future

**- Reliving the Past in Your Future - **

The next morning started off like it always did although Dr. Morris felt like his old self again as he strode out of the Doctors locker room and stopped when he got behind the admittance desk. He scooped up his patients files and even grabbed a few new ones as he drifted from curtain to curtain wearing a remarkable grin.

"Someone's happy today" Sam said noticing Morris's new attitude.

"Just being myself" Morris answered her as he kept his focus on completing his backed up charts behind the desk.

"Gates, Morris, Taggert…this is Dr. Christine Messina…she's our new Attending here at County" Dr. Banfield, the new Chief said as she introduced Dr. Messina to them.

"Nice to meet you" Sam said extending her hand to her.

Christine smiled at her as she took her hand.

"Thank you, I'm from New York Presbyterian so I'm not really used to everyone being so accommodating" Christine said as her eyes shifted towards Dr. Gates who was already looking her up and down causing Sam to get a little jealous.

"Well New York City and Chicago do have a few similarities…you can't be too home sick" Gates said to her with his mega watt grin.

Christine smiled back at him right as Sam punched him in the arm.

"Dr. Messina is a perfect addition to this hospital so let's make her feel welcomed" Dr. Banfield said to them as she ran off to follow an older male patient who was wearing their hospital gown backwards.

"Hey Gates, did you see the rack on that young piece of-" Morris abruptly cut himself off as he felt his grin quickly fade when he saw who was standing with Gates and Sam.

"No freaking way" Morris said in utter disbelief.

"Archie Morris…wow…it's been a while" Christine said to him.

"It hasn't been long enough and it's DR. Archie Morris" Morris said to her.

"I see you've become the terrific doctor I always knew you'd be…is womanizing your specialty?" Christine said to him.

Gates and Sam just stood there as their eyes darted back and forth between Christine and Morris.

"I see you're still the same cold hearted bitch I always knew you'd be…tell me, do little kids still cry when you examine them?" Morris said to her.

"Ok, I'm sorry to break this up guys…but we have to know"

"We went to the same Medical School" Morris said with his hands on his hips and not breaking his glare on Christine.

"Yeah…it was the most interesting eight years of my life…hey, did Archie here ever tell you about the time we were in class and he asked one of the guest doctors who was doing a lecture on Cardio Myopathy, how much-" Christine was cut off by Morris.

"Why are you here?" he asked her.

"I transferred from New York Presbyterian" Christine answered him.

"Wait…so what did he ask the doctor?" Gates asked her.

"It's not important" Morris said firmly.

"Oh but it's too funny…I mean really…you'll need a change of scrubs for this one" Christine said to them.

Before Christine could say anything the doors of the ER burst open with EMT's wheeling in a gurney.

"Thirty year old male, gun shot wound in right leg" one of the EMT's shouted over the patients screams of pain.

Morris, Messina, Gates and Sam all ran over to the patient.

"Sir, I'm Dr. Morris…do you know where you are right now?" Morris asked as the patient was being set up in one of the trauma rooms.

"Archie, the guy is in pain, there will be time for questions later…right now we need a CT scan to show exactly where the bullet is so we can get it out before it punctures a major artery" Christine said to him in front of everyone.

Morris just glared at Christine, he felt a bit embarrassed by her singling him out in front of his colleagues.

The patient's heart rate started to make the monitors go crazy.

"He's in A-Fib" Sam yelled.

"Paddles!" Morris and Christine yelled at the same time.

They both glared at each other as Gates came over with the paddles.

"Clear!" Gates yelled as he placed the paddles on the patient's chest.

After two shocks, the patient's heart was back to a normal rhythm.

"Sinus rhythm, he's back" Sam said as the monitors finally quieted down.

"Here's the CT Scan" Sam said to Christine.

"The bullet is lodged in his femur muscle and it's pushing down on the femoral tendon that's why he went into cardiac arrest…we need to get this bullet out now…call the OR" Christine said to Sam and Gates as she looked at the CT Scan.

"You heard her, let's get this guy out of here" Gates said as he took off his gloves and left the room, followed by Sam, Christine and a very visibly angry Morris.

"Hey, great job in there Messina" Gates said to Christine as they walked back over to the desk.

"Thanks" Christine said to him with a smile causing Gates to flash his mega watt grin at her.

"Oh come on, she did what all of us have done whenever something like that comes through the door" Morris said sounding bitter.

"I know I'm just sorry I didn't ask the guy if he knew where he was while he's screaming out in excruciating pain" Christine said to him sarcastically.

Morris just continued to glare at her and she did the same to him while Gates stood in between them.

"Well this is going to be fun" Gates said as he grabbed a chart and walked off.

An hour before the end of his shift, Morris made it a point to find Christine and let her know exactly what he thought of her after all of these years. He was angry and everyone knew it although they all thought it was hysterical.

He found Christine, relaxing alone in the doctor's lounge.

"Archie, what are you doing in here? No young chicks with big boobs to interest you out there?" she asked him.

"Look, you evil…witch…and I'm saying witch to be nice…you have no right treating me the way you are today…we were kids years ago and yeah, ha ha it was funny back then but not now, not here…this is my hospital and these are my colleagues that I've known for the past five years…they like me and respect me and I wont let you ruin that for me so just back off and stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours…ok?" Morris said to Christine in his serious tone.

Christine's eyes were wide in shock as she just sat there with her coffee in hand, looking at Morris in disbelief.

She was actually speechless as Morris turned his back and left her in the lounge completely surprised and taken back by this now older Morris.


	3. This Isn't a Dream

**- This isn't a Dream - **

The next day started off ok. Except the arrival of Morris's ex-classmate from hell had him feeling just a bit tense as he used a random chart to hide his face as he slid through the ER, he was about an hour late for his morning shift and knew he'd never live it down if Christine had caught him.

Unfortunately, Christine did see him sneak into the ER and laughed to herself as Gates continued talking to her about something not interesting. Christine felt herself softening a bit towards Morris after his intense declaration to her yesterday. She thought that maybe he did grow up…or at least part of him did.

Later on that day, Christine decided it was time to talk to Morris. She found him half asleep on the couch, with six empty coffee cups in front of him and patient's charts scattered around him inside of the doctor's lounge.

She stood by the couch for a few seconds looking down at him in awe. He looked so peaceful and even a little cute while he slept. Her thoughts quickly vanished as she saw him start to stir and open his eyes.

"Oh God…what kind of nightmare is this?" he said to her groggily as he fought to sit up.

"Archie, you're not dreaming…now wake yourself up, we've got a possible collapsed lung patient coming in any minute now" Christine said to him.

Morris looked up at her in confusion as she made her way to the door.

"Ok now I know this is some kind of bizarre nightmare" Morris said to her.

"Let's go" she said to him as she held the door open for him.

He looked at her for a few seconds as he gathered his things and followed her out of the lounge.

"This doesn't feel like a dream" he said to her as they walked through the hallway, side by side.

"For the last time Archie, you're not dreaming" Christine said to him as they rounded the corner just as the patient was being brought in by the EMT's.

Morris felt so confused by everything that he took a few seconds to step back and asses the situation in front of him plus he still thought he was dreaming.

Dr. Brenner ran over to the gurney as the EMT's explained the situation to him and Christine. Morris watched as Dr. Brenner wasted no time introducing himself to Christine as they wheeled the patient into a trauma room.

Feeling a little jealous, Morris decided to take charge and interrupt their first encounter as he entered the trauma room.

A couple of minutes later, their patient was finally stable although on his way to the OR for emergency lung surgery.

After the patient was moved, Morris followed Christine and Dr. Brenner over to the desk where the talking and constant smiling didn't stop especially when Gates had to intervene. Suddenly it became clear to Morris what was really going on and he immediately felt the need to warn Christine about Dr. Gates and Brenner's true intentions.

About an hour before his shift was over, Morris caught up with Christine who actually looked and sounded exhausted.

"What do you want Archie?" she asked as she saw him coming at her from her peripherals.

"Can you at least try DR. Morris or just Morris" he said to her.

"I'm busy, make it fast" she said to him as she professionally scanned through her charts and signed off on the needed written orders.

"Look, I've noticed you were talking to-" Morris cut himself off as he saw the smug and overly confident, Dr. Brenner approaching them.

"Excuse me, Dr. Messina, would you be able to look at this MRI? I just need a second opinion" he said to her with his dashing smile.

Before Christine could even answer him, Morris had snatched the MRI film from Dr. Brenner's hand and held it up to the light.

"It looks like there's a tumor on the temporal lobe…do a brain PET scan to check for malignancy" Morris said to him in his most professional tone.

Christine just looked at Morris in shock as Brenner took back the film, thanked him and walked away.

"Anyway, as I was saying…I-" Morris cut himself off again as Gates came over to them.

"Hey, Messina, you mind taking a look at these labs?" Gates said to her with his charming grin.

"That's it!" Morris said with his hands on his hips as he stood in the middle of Christine and Gates.

"Christine, I'm off in a few…do you want to get a drink with me?" Morris practically shouted at her.

Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing, especially Dr. Brenner, Sam and Frank as Morris confidently stood there in front of Christine awaiting her answer.

Before Gates could say anything smart, Christine finally looked up from the linoleum floor and stared right into Morris's eyes as she spoke.

"Sure" she said to him through gritted teeth signaling her obvious embarrassment since everyone was in fact listening to them.

"Great, I'm off in like ten minutes so I'll meet you at The Pub…it's right around the corner from here" Morris said to her casually as he walked off leaving everyone else and especially Christine, very confused and curious.


	4. Stolen

**- Stolen -**

Before he knew it, Morris was sitting down at the not yet crowded bar, nervously awaiting Christine's arrival. He sat there staring at his freshly filled mug of beer in front of him and his mind started to wonder. He thought about how the last time he was at this bar was about two weeks ago after Greg's funeral with everyone else from work.

Then he started to think about how he and Greg used to go there just to unwind after a crazy day of work. He smiled as he thought back to one of their last bar trips and how it ended with Greg saving a drunken Morris from getting his ass kicked by some other drunk guy.

Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted as he glanced over at the door and there she was. She looked fresh and actually relieved to be out of work. She wore jeans, a black turtle neck sweater and an expensive but casual looking brown leather jacket. Her pitch black hair was super straight and lingered past her shoulders as she stood there on her boot heels scanning the bar.

Finally their eyes met and Morris thought he was going to fall off his bar stool. Her smile lit up the entire dim room and to have her of all people smiling at him made him feel indescribable. Her heels clanged on the hard wood floor as she made her way over to him.

"Sorry I'm a little late…I just got done bringing an eighty eight year old back to life" Christine said to him as she placed her bag down on the bar and sat down on the stool next to him.

"You? Late? Never" Morris joked as he took a very much needed sip of his beer.

"Vodka and Cranberry, please" Christine said to the bartender as she reached for her wallet.

"Whoa! Liquor? It's not even nine o'clock yet!" Morris said in shock.

Christine just looked at him and shook her head as she went to hand the bartender her money but Morris stopped her.

"It's on me" he said to her.

Christine just looked at him again but this time she looked confused.

"Ok…so what did you want to talk to me about?" she asked him.

"Oh…well I thought since we're being somewhat civil to each other…now would be a good time to catch up" Morris said to her taking another large sip of his beer.

"Oh…alright" Christine said taking a sip of her drink as well.

"You drink like a girl" he said to her as he finished off his first beer.

"Last time I checked, I am a woman" Christine said as she finished off her first drink as well.

"And I don't drink like a girl" she said placing her now empty glass down on the bar.

Morris just looked at her in amazement. Never did he think he'd be in this kind of situation with her.

About an hour later and after about ten drinks for Christine and six beers for Morris, they were feeling pretty comfortable as they just sat there talking and laughing with each other, face to face.

"Archie, I am so sorry for everything I did and said to you back when we were in med school" Christine apologized to him.

"It's ok Christine, we were young and stupid back then" Morris said to her.

"I know but I was really mean to you and you didn't do anything wrong to me…you just…you seemed like you didn't care and I think that's what got me so frustrated with you" Christine explained to him.

Morris just looked at her with a stupid smile on his face as he leaned his elbow on the bar and put his hand on the side of his head so he could look straight into her dreamlike eyes as she continued to ramble on.

"No one could understand why I was so mean to you, not even myself until I finally realized that I had this huge crush on you but then I knew that you could never be the guy I wanted you to be and then I got even more frustrated and I'm so sorry…I'm so sorry Archie for everything and I completely understand if you never want to talk to me again" Christine said to him as she sadly looked down at the floor.

"What! Oh My God! No! No way! What would make you think I would never want to talk to you again? You're talking crazy sweetheart" Morris said to her causing her to smile again.

"Wow…I can't believe you of all people liked me…if I knew that back then I would've changed myself just for you" Morris said to her.

"No! No Archie! You can't! You can't ever change…you're you…it's one of the things that I love and find annoying about you" Christine said to him.

Morris's eyes grew about three times wider when Christine spoke of the word love when referring to him being himself. She didn't seem to notice and since she was drinking liquor and he stuck with the beers he was doing way better than she was as far as being drunk.

"It's ok, everybody loves me! I'm Dr. Archibald Morris" Morris said to her hoping that it would end her obvious drunk and what he assumed to be meaningless ramblings.

"Speaking of love…Dr. Gates and Dr. Brenner just can't keep their eyes off of you my dear" Morris said to her, anxiously awaiting her reaction.

"HA! Ick! Those two think they're on some kind of TV show where everybody wants to screw them because they're so hot but you know what? They're not! They're not hot at all!" Christine said as she continued to laugh.

"So you don't like them?" Morris asked her hoping he wasn't hearing things.

"They're good doctors but for me? Not my type at all" Christine answered him as another drink was being placed down in front of her.

"You sure you should-" Morris got cut off by her.

"Shut up! I worked all day and I can drink all night!" Christine shouted as she downed her drink as if it was a mere glass of water.

Morris watched her in awe as she twirled her straw in the now glass of ice. She did hold her liquor well. By now he expected her to be falling off her stool or rocking back and forth but she didn't do anything like that. Her words might've been a little jumbled and her laugh was a little too loud but other than that she seemed perfectly fine and that's when Morris had a realization.

"Oh My God! I love this song!" Christine said as Dashboard Confessional's song _Stolen_ came blaring through the bars speakers.

"Isn't this an EMO band?" Morris asked her.

"Shut up! This is the best song ever!" Christine said as she sang part of the song surprisingly well.

"Come on" Morris said as he extended his hand to her.

She smiled at him as she took it and he led her over to a vacant area of the bar. He placed his hands around her waist and she placed hers around his neck as they began to dance to the slow yet lyrically powerful song.

"I never thought you'd like EMO music" Morris said to her.

"It's not EMO music…I just like rock music...back in New York I used to go to rock shows and clubs with my friends practically every night and I'd still be able to get up and turn off my inner Rockstar just in time for work" Christine said to him.

"I'm actually shocked…you would never know…but the black razor straight hair, side bang, black eye liner and hoop earrings kind of give you away" Morris said to her with a smile.

Christine just shook her head as she leaned it against his shoulder. Morris looked down at her and thought that he was definitely dreaming. Nothing ever went this perfect for him before and all he could do was hope that she felt the same.

The song started to pick up a little and that's when Christine lifted her head from his shoulder and looked right into his eyes causing him to almost lose his balance.

"This is my favorite part! Spin me!" she said to him as he took her hand and held it up as she spun around.

Morris actually started to listen to the song and that's when it hit him. The lyrics, the meaning, everything…at that moment as she spun around in front of him he felt as if everything was going in slow motion. It felt as if he was in a movie scene, it was absolutely perfect.

In those few seconds, Christine had stolen Morris's heart just like the songs lyrics claimed and he couldn't have felt any better until he started to think about how this all happened and why she was here.

As the song almost ended, Morris pushed himself to ask her what he needed to know.

"Of all the hospitals in the United States, let along New York…what made you choose here?" Morris asked her.

Christine looked up at him and their eyes met in another perfect moment. Morris felt himself about to float away as their faces inched closer and closer until they froze when Gates and Sam made their presences known.

"Would you look at that? Morris is trying to get Dr. Messina wasted so he can take her home and have his way with her" Gates said to Sam.

Unfortunately, both Morris and Christine overheard him and before Christine could correct him she noticed Morris's fists balled up tightly and a look of sheer rage in his eyes as he glared at Gates.

"Take that back" Morris said to him.

"How are we supposed to know that that's not what's going on here" Gates said to him.

"We? Don't involve me in this" Sam said to him.

As Morris went to approach Gates, Christine stepped in the middle and pushed him back.

"That isn't what's going on…I was actually just leaving" Christine said as she walked back over to the bar, grabbed her bag and left.

Morris followed right behind her as she stood on the sidewalk, fumbling through her bag as the snow continued to fall.

"Hey, are you ok?" Morris asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine…I just need to find my phone" she said as she continued looking through her bag.

"You left it on the bar" Morris said as he handed it to her.

"Thanks Archie" she said to him with a smile as she dialed the number for a cab.

"Don't listen to Gates, he's an idiot" Morris said to her hoping that she didn't agree with Gates' false accusation.

"I know…it's just…it's getting late and we both have six AM shifts tomorrow morning" she said to him.

"This coming from the girl who hangs out in New York City rocker bars until all hours of the night?" Morris said to her with a smile.

"I'm not in New York anymore" she said to him.

"No but you're here, you're here with me right now and to be honest with you…I really don't care about having to get up for work in the next few hours…I want you to stay here with me" Morris said to her.

Christine just looked at him and shook her head, as she went to give him a kiss on the cheek he accidentally moved his head and their lips met. He grabbed her by the waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss. After a couple of seconds, their tongues danced sensually in each others alcohol flavored mouths as the snow kept falling and caused them to shiver while they held onto each other for dear life.

Never the less, their too perfect moment was again ruined by the impatient cab driver who pulled up right next to them as they were still kissing.

"I got to go…thank you for everything Archie…I'll see you tomorrow" Christine said as they kissed one last time before she got in the cab and left along with his now inevitably stolen heart.

Archie stood on the sidewalk as he watched the cab drive down the street and disappear around the corner. He felt a mixture of emotions as he went to go back inside the bar but he stopped when he saw Gates and Sam standing in front of it, grinning away.

"Congratulations Archie!" Sam said to him.

"Morris, I'm sorry about what I said before so come on in and I'll buy you a nice cold one" Gates said to him.

"Thanks guys but I'm actually going to call it a night…six AM will be here before we know it" Morris said with a grin as he buried his hands in his jacket pockets and walked off.


	5. The Wrong Time and Place

**- The Wrong Time and Place -**

The next day couldn't have come sooner for Morris as he found himself whistling away as he entered the ER about an hour and a half early for his six AM shift. Some of the night crew was still there and almost needed to be resuscitated as they watched Morris happily trotting around the ER, offering his service to anyone who needed it.

"Come on, you guys have been here long enough" Morris said to one of the exhausted interns.

"He's with me, Morris" Dr. Neela Rasgotra, the hospitals top Surgical Resident said to him.

"Which further explains why he needs a break" Morris said to her.

"Wait a second; the morning shift doesn't start for another hour which means you're actually here…early?" Neela said sounding a bit confused.

"Hey, is that an extra?" he asked as he noticed the tray of coffees Neela had placed next to her at the desk.

"Here, you'll need it" she said as she handed him one.

"Thanks" he said as he trotted off.

An hour flew by as Morris found himself glued to the desk, watching like a hawk, everyone who was coming through the doors.

Finally, Christine came in and she looked perfect. There was no way you'd be able to tell she was out drinking the night before.

Morris watched as she smiled at everyone and even chatted with a group of female interns a bit before she went to the doctor's locker room.

Morris waited a few seconds before he followed her to the locker room, with the still hot coffee in his hand.

He quietly opened the door and felt relieved when he realized that they were the only ones in there. Maybe they could get in another quick make out session before work today he thought as he watched her put on her lab coat.

"Good morning" he said sweetly causing Christine to jump in fright.

"Oh My God, you scared me…I thought I was the only one in here" she said still not turning around to look at him; she was too concerned with fixing the collar of her lab coat.

"How do you feel?" he asked her as she shut her locker.

"I feel fine…and you?" she answered as she finally turned around to face him.

"I feel great" he said to her with a bright smile.

"That's good" she said with a smile.

There was an awkward moment of silence between them as they both just stood there not knowing what else to say.

"Here, I got this for you" Morris said as he handed her the coffee.

"Thanks Archie" she said to him as she took it from him.

"No problem" he said to her hoping that any second she'd drop this cool and calm casual act and passionately attack him.

"How long have you been here?" Christine asked him.

"I got here around four thirty this morning" he said to her nonchalantly.

"What? Why? Your shift doesn't start until six" she said to him.

"Well…I wanted to get here early so I could see you" he said as he reached his arms out and placed his hands on her hips, pulling her close to him.

"Archie, what are you doing?" she asked him.

Morris just looked at her and then grinned widely.

"Don't play the, I was drunk and I don't remember card with me sweetheart" he said as he went to kiss her but she pulled away from him just in time.

"Look, Archie…now really isn't a good time for me" she said as she went to leave the locker room.

"What are you talking about? Now isn't a good time for you? That's not what you said last night at the bar or maybe that's because you were too busy with your tongue down my throat" Morris said to her.

"Archie! I was drunk, ok? Last night…it didn't mean anything…we agreed on being civil to each other so lets just leave it at that" Christine said to him.

"What? No way! You even told me yourself how I could never change because it's one of the things you love about me and when we were in school you had this huge crush on me and-" Morris got cut off by Christine clamping her hand over his mouth.

"We're at work right now…this is neither the time nor place for this kind of discussion" Christine said to him as she slowly lifted her hand away from his mouth.

"Fine…then we'll discuss it tonight, at my place…I'll cook for you…anything Italian" Morris said to her.

"No! I cant…I cant do this right now…Archie please just leave it alone…last night was a mistake I shouldn't have gone out…I was stupid and under the influence of alcohol…please…lets just forget anything ever happened" Christine said to him.

"Fine…if that's the way you want it to be than fine…I'll forget everything and we'll go back to the way everything was" Morris said to her.

Christine just looked at Morris; you could tell she felt just as bad if not worse than he did.

"Can I just ask you one last thing? And I promise I'll never bring it up again" Morris said to her.

"What is it?" she asked him with a sigh.

"Why not? We both want this and it's obvious…so why not? No one else has to know about us…I can try and keep it a secret if that's the way you want it to be" Morris said to her.

Christine just shook her head as she let out another frustrated sigh.

"I'm sorry Archie but no…we cant do it…and it's not your fault…it's mine…see there's a reason why I left New York…it's not because I wanted to…I had to…and I had to transfer hospitals because-" Christine cut herself off as Sam yanked open the locker room door causing a flood of light to enter the once very dim lit room.

"Hey guys, we've got two trauma's out here…we could use some help" Sam said to both of them.

"We'll be right there" Morris angrily snapped at her.

Sam could see something wasn't right between Morris and Christine so she just nodded her head and shut the door.

"As you were saying" Morris said rubbing his forehead, trying to understand what was going on now.

"I'm sorry Archie" Christine said as she practically ran out of the locker room leaving Morris completely confused and upset.


	6. Starting Over

**- Starting Over -**

For the remainder of the day the tension between Morris and Christine could be cut with a knife and everyone else was starting to catch on as to what was going on between them. Christine seemed very distracted and on edge where as Morris was more easily aggravated which is something nobody was use to with him.

After lunch at the diner around the corner from the hospital, Sam and Gates decided to take it upon themselves to try and get things back to normal between Christine and Morris. Sam said she'd speak to Christine and Gates knew he'd have no problem talking to Morris.

Gates found Morris outside the ambulance bay, breathing in some ice cold snow filled air. He looked as if he had lost his best friend and Gates immediately regretted wanting to get involved in this.

"Hey Morris, what's up buddy?" Gates said to him.

"Nothing…just needed some air" Morris answered him with his hands buried deep in his lab coat pockets.

"It's pretty cold out here, where's your jacket" Gates said to him noticing how Morris was shivering.

"Home" Morris said to him.

"Look, Morris…you seem a little angry today, anything you want to talk about?" Gates said to him.

"Nope, I'm fine" Morris answered him abruptly.

"Morris, Sam told me about you and Christine…what happened?" Gates said to him.

"Christine? Nothing happened between me and Christine…Sam is crazy" Morris said as he walked off leaving Gates completely surprised.

Meanwhile, back inside the warm but stuffy hospital, Sam managed to corner Christine in the doctor's lounge as she was fixing herself a cup of coffee.

"Hey Christine, you seem pretty quiet today…is everything ok?" Sam said to her.

"Everything is fine" Christine answered her abruptly.

"Are you sure there's nothing you want to talk about? We're both sensible woman here" Sam said as she followed Christine out of the doctor's lounge and back out into the ER.

"Sam, I know you mean well but right now really isn't a good time…" Christine trailed off as she looked across the room and watched Morris obviously flirting with a new intern.

"Who's she?" Christine asked Sam sounding very bitter.

"That's Allison, she's one of the new interns" Sam answered her.

"So tell me, exactly how many girls affiliated with this hospital has Dr. Morris slept with?" Christine asked her showing her obvious jealousy.

"None…he dated two girls…one was a second year med student and the other was a resident…neither girls lasted long and both of them left here within a month" Sam said to her.

Christine didn't say anything as she grabbed a chart and walked over to where Morris was with the intern.

"You're a pig" Christine yelled at him causing the entire ER to quiet down and listen.

"Excuse me?" Morris said sounding surprised.

"You heard me! You…you…you!!!" Christine said as she let out a frustrated scream as she stormed off.

Morris didn't see Christine for the rest of the day. He felt a little bad for purposely flirting with that intern just to get Christine's attention. His plan worked but not in the way he had hoped it would. Instead of claiming Morris as her own and admitting her undying love for him in front of the whole ER, he managed to get her so mad that she called him a pig, yelled at him and probably went home early just to avoid seeing him for the remainder of their shifts.

After his shift was done, Morris quickly left the hospital. He could see and hear everyone whispering about him and he didn't like that. Plus he wanted to avoid Gates' probably useless advice on the situation.

Morris went straight home to his empty apartment. He changed out of his work slacks, shirt and tie and put on a long sleeved black scoop neck shirt and a pair of casual jeans. He made a sandwich and poured himself a glass of top shelf vodka as he relaxed on his couch. He turned on the TV but nothing seemed to catch his interest. His focus was still on Christine no matter how much vodka he drank.

A couple of minute's later, right as Morris was about to pass out due to the vodka he had been drinking, there was a knock on his door. Morris opened his eyes fully as he waited to hear the knock again just to make sure he wasn't hearing things.

A few seconds later, a louder and more persistent knock occurred causing Morris to get up from the couch, after he almost fell down again due to his alcohol consumption.

"I'm coming" Morris said sounding annoyed as the knocking continued.

He swung open the door and thought for sure he had to be dreaming when he saw Christine standing in front of him, looking perfect as per normal.

"What do you want and why are you here?" Morris asked her harshly.

"Can I come in?" she asked him calmly.

Morris didn't say anything as he opened the door to let her in. He watched her as she walked more into his apartment. Her eyes scanned almost everywhere until Morris shut the door causing her to jump in shock.

"You really need to relax" Morris said to her as he went back over to his couch and resumed his original position there.

"Sorry…I've had a lot of things on my mind lately and that's why I'm here right now" Christine said to him as she hesitantly took a seat far away from him on the couch.

"How did you-" Morris was cut off by Christine.

"Personal File…I have my ways" she said referring to how she knew where he lived.

"Look, Archie…earlier today when we were in the locker room I was about to tell you why I came here and had to transfer hospitals" Christine said to him.

"Right and then Sam walked in and interrupted us and you ran off anyways" Morris said to her.

"We had to work! What did you expect?" Christine said to him.

"Well to be honest with you Christine…from last nights events I expected this morning to be very different than it turned out to be" Morris said to her.

Christine just looked at him and hung her head.

"Archie, the reason why I had to transfer hospitals and leave New York is because I fell in love with my Chief Resident and it was completely unexpected and started off ok but then I ended up getting him fired and he hated me for that so I made the decision to leave the hospital and transfer to one out of state and away from Jimmy" Christine explained to him.

"Wait…so let me get this straight…you don't want to be with me because you fell in love or you're still in love with…Jimmy? And you seriously think that I'm going to believe you and just let things be" Morris said to her.

"Archie! You don't understand…after everything happened with Jimmy I made a promise to myself that I would never get involved with another colleague ever again and so far…well up until last night…I was doing fine" Christine said to him as she got up from the couch and started nervously pacing back and forth in front of him.

"I know how these things work Archie, in the beginning everything will be fine but then everything will fall apart…you'll hate me, I'll hate you and I'll have to leave again and I don't want to…I like it here in Chicago and it does remind me of New York…I just I cant go through it again and you and I…we're bound for drama and you know that" Christine explained.

"Christine, listen to you…drama is what relationships are all about! Without drama, life is dull and boring" Morris said to her.

"Oh right, and I should be listening to you? Dr. Look at me! I'm flirting with a young intern to prove I can still get chicks" Christine said to him.

"What? What are you talking about? She was flirting with me!" Morris protested.

"Yeah ok…whatever Archie" Christine said wanting to drop the convo.

"Wait a second…if you're so against this than why do you care who I flirt with?" Morris asked her.

"Archie, I still care about you…I don't want to see you with some nasty intern who thinks sleeping with a resident will get her far" Christine said to him.

"But isn't that exactly what you did? Except you hooked up with your Chief Resident…now that's pretty-" Morris was cut off by Christine.

"Shut up Archie, I swear I'll hurt you" Christine said to him seriously.

Morris just looked at her, he knew she wasn't kidding and shut his mouth as she continued to talk.

"This was stupid, I can't believe I even wasted my time…I should've known better" Christine said as she walked towards the door.

"Christine, wait….I'm sorry, please stay" Morris said as he got up and met her by the door.

"Come on, the snow is really coming down out there…I bet the roads are terrible…just wait it out here and we'll watch any movie you want" Morris said to her.

"Fine" Christine said with a sigh as she followed Morris back over to the couch.

A few hours later, Christine had passed out and was now lying down on Morris's couch with her head on his lap. Morris felt paralyzed, he hadn't moved since she positioned herself that way and the movie they were watching had ended.

Morris didn't want to move. If it was up to him, he'd stay this way forever he thought to himself as he looked down at Christine, she seemed so peaceful and perfect as she slept. Morris counted each breath she took and felt himself melt every time. Did she know what she was doing to him?

He carefully reached for the remote and turned off his TV as he settled back into his couch. He carefully stroked Christine's silky hair as he found himself falling asleep.

The next morning Morris woke up alone. He looked down and realized Christine had left since you could practically hear a pin drop in his deafening apartment. He felt upset at first; the idea of waking up with her was something he had dreamt about ever since she walked back into his life.

Morris felt terrible for how cold and not serious he was to her the night before. It was then that Morris realized that nothing had changed. He was still a loser when it came to love. He never got what he wanted and when he did it would only last for just a little while and then it would be snatched away from him.

He made a promise to himself that this time it would be different. If he couldn't have Christine then he'd deal with it, he still wanted her in his life even if it was just as a friend. He didn't want her to compromise her promise to not get involved with any colleagues as well.

This was going to be a new Dr. Archie Morris, someone who actually cared about what was good for others rather than his own selfish needs.


	7. This Is the Season

**- This Is the Season -**

The next month proved to be the hardest for everyone, especially Christine and Morris. As Christmas neared, the loneliness started to take a toll on the only two single people left amongst the general ER staff. Since The Holiday was approaching Dr. Banfield put Dr. Brenner in charge of making the shift schedule and since everyone else had family or significant others to be with, the brunt of the work was piled on both Christine and Morris.

Both doctors did very well under pressure and having both of them running the ER for the past few weeks actually wasn't as bad as everyone else thought it would be. They were kept so busy with their work that either of them was able to think about anything else. They'd work, go to sleep and get up for work again. Not one word was mentioned about their recent dilemma and that was the way it was going to stay.

It was the night of the hospitals Christmas Party when Christine finally cracked underneath all of the pressure. Throughout the night she continued to drink even though her colleagues would tell her to slow down or stop. She ended up getting so drunk that in the end, Morris elected himself to take her home.

"Wanna come up?" Christine asked him with the sour smell of tequila still lingering on her breath.

Morris just looked at her as both of his hands stayed glued to the steering wheel of his brand new Mercedes Benz, an early Christmas gift bought by himself for himself.

"I don't think that's a really good idea" Morris answered her truthfully.

"Oh come on! At least tuck me in?" she said to him with a perfect pout.

"Ok…fine…but just to tuck you in, no bedtime story tonight missy" he said to her.

Christine grinned at him as Morris turned off his car and quickly got out so he could help Christine get out on her side.

"I can walk!" she yelled at him as he heroically picked her up and carried her to the door.

"She lives here" Morris said to an older woman who was coming out of the building.

The woman looked strangely at Morris holding Christine who was mumbling _Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas _as she held the door for him.

"Thank you so much ma'am and Merry Christmas!" Morris yelled back at her as he carried Christine through the door.

"That's it!" Christine shouted in excitement as she pointed to her apartment door.

"Are you sure?" Morris asked her hoping she wasn't that drunk to not remember where she lived.

"I'm not that drunk…we got here, didn't we?" Christine said as she yanked a key from out of her bag.

Morris put her down and he watched as she fumbled with her keys.

"Right…you just usually say that Gates and Brenner should join a boy band and Sam should get breast implants and Banfield is tighter than-" Morris was cut off by Christine pressing her index finger against his lips.

"Ok…fine…I said some stupid things…so what?" Christine said to him as she finally got her door open.

"Don't mind the mess" Christine said as she walked into her perfectly neat and clean apartment.

"Yeah…it's a real mess in here" Morris said sarcastically as he shut the door behind them.

He looked around her apartment and was blown away by how perfect everything was. He desperately tried to find just one thing wrong or out of place but he couldn't.

"The bedroom is this way" Christine said to him as she took off her shirt as she walked into her bedroom.

Morris's jaw dropped as he silently begged God for the strength to get through the next couple of minutes.

He cautiously walked into Christine's room right as she was changing out of her clothes.

"Oh God, I'm sorry" Morris said turning his head away from her.

"Oh please, you know you want me" Christine said to him as she pulled a pair of silk pajama pants over her hips.

"What? No" Morris said with a laugh as he nonchalantly turned his head to the side and watched her from his peripherals.

Thank God her back was still facing him.

About an hour later, Morris found himself lying comfortably next to Christine on her king sized bed. Somehow she had managed to talk him into lying down with her before he had to leave which was about an hour ago.

The movie they were watching had ended and now Christine was curled up next to Morris as he laid their with his hands behind his head just staring up at the ceiling, trying to concentrate on anything else but her and what was going on right now.

"You're quiet tonight" Christine said to him as she started to play with the buttons on his shirt.

"Uh…yeah…I'm just really tired" Morris said still not looking directly at her.

"Go to sleep" Christine practically whispered to him.

"I…I…" Morris stammered as he thought about tomorrow mornings outcome.

"You're very comfortable so you can't leave" Christine said as she snuggled herself even closer to him.

Morris let out a nervous laugh as he laid there paralyzed by her.

The next couple of minutes were filled with a comfortable silence. All you could hear was the sound of Christine's breathing evening out as she started to fall asleep. Finally Morris looked down at her and he realized that she always looked perfect. Even when she slept or made fun of colleagues to their faces under the influence of alcohol, she still looked perfect and that scared him. It scared him because of how imperfect he was and the more he thought about it, the more tired he got and the more depressed he became.

Finally sleep came over him as he realized that tomorrow morning he could be waking up next to Christine and most likely she'd try and kill him when he told her everything that had happened tonight.

The next morning came sooner than expected as Morris's eyes fluttered open to an unfamiliar yet warm and modern styled bedroom. It didn't take him long at all to remember the events from the previous night. He muffled a laugh as he realized he wasn't alone. He felt a comforting weight against his side as he looked down and saw his arm wrapped around Christine's still sleeping body.

He stared at her for a few minutes as he had an epiphany. He couldn't do this anymore. He couldn't just be friends with Christine; he wanted more but he knew it was wrong.

As Morris carefully removed his arm from around her and slowly moved so he could sit up, Christine moved her hand up in search of the warmth she had been holding on to all night.

Morris watched amused as Christine was now hugging a pillow instead of him. He sat on the side of her bed, holding his head in his hands as he struggled to make sense of everything. Christine would be waking up any moment now and would she really want to see him there in her bed with her?

He shook the thought off as he stood up and quietly snuck out of her room. Feeling how dry his throat was, Morris walked over to her refrigerator and pulled it open revealing a small health food store in the process. He reached for the orange juice as he grabbed a spotless glass from the dish rack.

As he was about to take his first sip, he heard a creak in the floorboard and turned around to see Christine standing a few feet away from him, still in her pajama's and looking not fully awake yet.

"Good morning drunkie" Morris said as he took a large sip of juice.

"What time is it?" Christine asked still in a groggy state.

"It's almost five AM" Morris answered her as he looked down at his watch.

"Damn…how long have I been asleep for?" she asked him with a cute yawn.

"A few hours…you fell right out as soon as we got back here" Morris said to her.

"Really? Thanks for taking care of me last night…I feel so stupid…I think I humiliated myself in front of everyone that we work with…I really don't want to see any of them today" Christine said as she joined Morris in the kitchen.

"Well don't worry about that, it's Christmas Eve so we're the only Residents on" Morris said to her.

"Good" Christine said as she poured herself a glass of juice.

There was an awkward silence as the two of them just stood there, drinking juice and obviously thinking about something interesting.

"Thanks for the juice, I'm going to get going…I'll see you in about an hour" Morris said as he placed his glass down in the sink and walked out of the kitchen and over to the living room where his jacket was still draped over the side of the couch.

"Hey, you sure you don't want to stay for breakfast? I make a pretty mean western omelet" Christine said to him as she followed him to the door.

Morris just looked at her and shook his head.

"Thanks anyway but I really need to get cleaned up…rain check?" he said as he put his jacket on.

"Sure" she said to him with a smile as she opened the door for him.

"Archie! Thanks…for everything…really…thank you for last night" Christine said to him as he went to leave.

"Oh, your welcome…and thank you for being so damn entertaining" he said to her with a smile as he walked off.

Christine watched as he quickly walked down the hallway and disappeared behind the elevator doors. He seemed nervous and she knew exactly why.


	8. Because Of You

**- Because Of You -**

Before he knew it, Morris was walking through the doors of County General's ER. It was Christmas Eve, around a quarter to six in the morning and already the ER was a chaotic scene to see. After grabbing some coffee in the lounge, Morris made his way over to the desk where he saw Frank, who was dressed up as Santa Clause, hanging up some mistletoe.

"Merry Christmas Morris!" Frank said doing his best Santa Clause impression.

"You know, that's really not a bad look for you" Morris said as he started going through some new patient files.

"Thanks Morris" Frank said sounding a little surprised at Morris's compliment.

"No problem buddy" Morris said as he grabbed a file and trotted off.

After cleaning up and wrapping a nasty gash, on his way back to the desk, Morris spotted Christine laughing with Frank. She was helping him hang up some last minute decorations and Morris immediately felt that happy feeling he'd get whenever he saw her laugh. He decided to pretend that they didn't just spend the previous night together although it was completely innocent, he didn't want it to be awkward between them but the closer he got to her, the more awkward it was.

Morris walked over to the desk; Christine was behind the desk and standing on a chair, hanging up some silver garland while Frank held on to the chair for her. Morris just watched the scene play out in front of him as he thought of something witty to say.

"I need more tape" Christine said to Frank as she held the garland in place.

"Coming right up" Frank said as he took his hands off of the chair and bent down to get more tape.

"Christine!" Morris yelled in horror as he watched Frank accidentally hit the side of the chair causing it to jerk violently making Christine lose her balance and fall.

It felt as if time stood still for Morris as he ran around the desk and caught her just before she hit the floor.

"Are you ok?" Morris asked her as he held her in his arms.

Christine's eyes were wide and Morris could feel her heart pounding away as she looked up at him.

"Christine, I'm so sorry" Frank said to her.

"It's ok Frank…I shouldn't have been standing on a chair with wheels anyway" Christine answered him still not looking away from Morris's eyes.

"Hey guys, you know the rule" Frank said as he pointed up to the mistletoe that was now hanging above Christine and Morris.

"Thanks Archie" Christine said to him with a smile.

"No problem" Morris answered her with a smile.

They stayed like that for a few perfect seconds until the ER doors busted open bringing them both back into reality.

Christine quickly stood up and fixed herself as the EMT's wheeled in two patients.

"Eighty year old couple, driving east bound on Hawkins Avenue, car was hit on the right side, both in critical condition" one of the EMT's said as Christine and Morris ran over to the gurney's.

Christine stayed with the woman and Morris went with the man as they took over both trauma rooms.

"She's seizing! Give me 6 CC's of Lorazapan!" Christine shouted at Daria, one of the new interns.

Christine injected the Lorazapan into her patients IV line and within seconds the woman stopped seizing.

Suddenly the monitors started to go crazy as the patients heart rate began to rise.

"She's tachycardic!" Daria yelled as she stood frozen by the monitors.

"We need to open her up, call the OR and stop just standing there and waiting for me to instruct you!" Christine yelled at Daria as she ran over to the phone to call the OR.

"She's in cardiac arrest! Paddles now!" Christine shouted right as a nurse from the other trauma room came running in to help her.

"Clear!" Christine yelled as she shocked her patient.

"Again!" Christine said as the paddles recharged themselves.

After about fives tries, the monitors started to quiet down as everything returned to normal.

"Did you call the OR?" Christine asked Daria who was still standing by the phone looking a bit terrified.

"Yeah, they said we could bring her up in the next five minutes, they are really swamped" Daria said to her.

"What?? The next five minutes??? She could die in the next two!" Christine shouted as she went to move the gurney herself.

"Dr. Messina, how is everything in here?" Dr. Banfield asked as she entered the room.

"She's stable but not for long" Christine answered her.

"Did you call the OR?" Dr. Banfield asked her as if she was stupid.

"Of course and they said we have to wait because they're busy" Christine replied.

"Dr. Morris was told the same thing…just keep the compressions going" Dr. Banfield said as she left the room.

"She's not going to last! We have to move her now" Christine said as she started to push the gurney towards the door.

"Dr. Messina, we have to wait" one of the Nurses reminded her.

"No, we don't! We can't wait! She could die and I'm not going to let probably somebody's grandmother pass away on Christmas Eve!" Christine snapped at her with intensity in her eyes.

Everyone was quiet as they helped Christine wheel the gurney out of the trauma room and over to the elevator.

"Ok guys lets move! This guy doesn't have much time" Morris yelled at his interns as he wheeled the gurney with his patient on it almost colliding into Christine's patient.

"I had no idea how understaffed we are today" Christine said right as the elevator doors opened.

Morris and Christine looked at each other as they both went to wheel their patients into the elevator.

"This guy is hanging on by a thread" Morris said to her.

"And she's about two minutes away from having a full blown heart attack" Christine said back to him.

They just stood there for a few seconds looking at each other as they tried to decide who would go first.

"Fine, you know what? You take it, go ahead…it's not like this guy has anything to live for anyway…so go ahead, it's ok…trust me, you always have to be right anyway…it's always about you" Morris said to her sounding aggravated.

"Excuse me? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Oh wait…don't tell me this is about us…Archie, I told you why I cant be with you and I really thought you matured at least enough to understand my situation" Christine shouted back at him.

"Us? There is no us! Remember? Because you screwed up! It wasn't me this time, it was you oh and you're welcome for saving you from a broken leg or a serious concussion before" Morris shouted at her.

Before Christine could yell at him again, Daria stopped them.

"Guys! Come on! This is ridiculous! Both of these patients are in critical condition and all you care about is each other! It's obvious! You both need to grow up and tell each other how you feel that is after our patients are taken care of in the OR" Daria yelled at them both surprising everyone.

Christine looked at Morris and hung her head in shame and embarrassment.

"Her blood oxygen levels are still stable…his levels keep decreasing so you go first" Christine said to Morris.

Morris didn't say anything as he and two other Nurses wheeled his patient into the elevator.

A few hours later, the ER finally started to calm down. Christine and Morris didn't see each other after the elevator incident earlier that day.

It was around six o'clock at night when Morris started to do his rounds up in the ICU. His patient from before, Mr. Cullen was out of surgery and now stable.

"Mr. Cullen, how are you feeling? I'm Dr. Morris…you're in County General Hospital…you and your wife were in a car accident earlier today but your both going to be fine" Morris explained as he stood by Mr. Cullen's bedside.

"Where's my wife?" Mr. Cullen asked sounding nervous as he went to get out of his bed.

"Mr. Cullen, your wife is fine, she's in the room next door" Morris said as he gently pushed Mr. Cullen back down in his bed.

"Oh My God Marilyn! I'm so sorry…how could this have happened?" Mr. Cullen said to Morris.

"Mr. Cullen the accident wasn't your fault and your family is on their way here" Morris said as he put his chart down and went to walk out of the room.

"Dr. Morris…I heard you fighting with that lady doctor before" Mr. Cullen said stopping Morris dead in his tracks.

"We weren't fighting…we were just-" Morris was cut off by Mr. Cullen.

"You're in love, I get it" the older man said to him.

Morris didn't know what to say as he stared in disbelief at his patient.

"I'm not in love" Morris said with a laugh as he nonchalantly walked back over to his patient's bedside.

"I might be old but I still know the look in someone's eyes when they're in love" Mr. Cullen said to him.

"Mr. Cullen I-" Morris was cut off.

"Joe, call me Joe" Joe said to him.

"Ok…Joe…I'm not in love…and even if I was…it'll never happen…she still looks at me as a screw up and no matter what I do or say it just makes everything worse" Morris said to him.

"It doesn't matter about how you were…it's all about now…and if you want her, you need to let her know" Joe said with a smile.

"It's not that easy…she knows I want to be with her but she cant let go of a mistake she made with another doctor at another hospital" Morris explained to him.

Joe let out a hearty laugh causing Morris to laugh and smile for what felt like the first time since the elevator incident with Christine.

Meanwhile in the room next door, Christine was looking at Mrs. Cullen's vitals right as she started to wake up from a peaceful sleep.

"Mrs. Cullen you're in the hospital, there was an accident" Christine started to explain to her.

"I know…I heard everything" Mrs. Cullen said to her.

"Oh…really?" Christine questioned her.

"Yes, I remember everything…especially my Joe holding on to my hand during surgery" Mrs. Cullen said.

"Oh…ok…well your husband is doing fine…he's in the room next door and your family is on their way" Christine said to her.

"I know" Mrs. Cullen replied with a content smile.

Christine just looked at Mrs. Cullen strangely as she re looked over her chart.

"You're on a few pain killers and a low dosage of Morphine to help with the pain" Christine said to her.

"I know I heard the Nurses talking before" Mrs. Cullen answered her.

Christine didn't say anything as she immediately rationalized Mrs. Cullen's words and behavior with the drugs she was on.

"I heard you and that cute red headed doctor arguing…is everything ok now?" Mrs. Cullen asked her.

Christine's eyes widen in shock as she put down Mrs. Cullen's chart and stared at her in amazement.

"Mrs. Cullen…you were dead for twenty seconds…there's no way you were conscience when we were bringing you up to the OR" Christine said to her.

"It's Marilyn and you didn't answer my question…is everything ok now?" Marilyn asked her again.

"Archie and I go way back…we'll be fine" Christine said to her.

"I know you will be…the love you have for each other is everlasting" Marilyn said to her.

"Excuse me? Marilyn I'm sorry but I think the drugs are causing some confusion" Christine said to her.

"Honey, if anyone is confused…it's you" Marilyn said to her.

Before Christine could say anything, Marilyn interjected.

"You remind me so much of how I was…stubborn and always thinking I was better off alone…until I met my Joe…we didn't really get along at first…I thought he was very immature and I confronted him about it and then he changed…and I didn't like it…I missed the old Joe and that's when I realized how much I loved him…I'd die without him" Marilyn explained to Christine.

"Marilyn, I know what you're getting at and trust me, Archie and I…we just…it would never work…we're two different people and I already promised myself that I would never get involved with another colleague of mine…I did and it almost ruined my life…but now I'm here and-" Christine was cut off by Marilyn.

"You're here and you're in love but you're scared that you're going to make the same mistakes again" Marilyn said to her.

"Yeah" Christine said finally giving in.

"Honey, there's nothing to be scared of…any mistakes you've made, you've learned from and I'm sure you and Archie will work on whatever differences you have…when you love someone, you have to love everything about them even though sometimes you might not want to…you still do…you have to trust him but most importantly you need to trust yourself" Marilyn said to her.

By now Christine was sitting on the edge of Marilyn's bed. Her mind was racing, she had so many questions and thoughts running through her mind that it was becoming hard to concentrate on anything else but Archie.

"Go find him, tell him how you feel and take that chance…everyday I thank God that I took a chance with Joe, I cant even imagine my life without him…he's everything to me" Marilyn said to her.

Christine smiled as she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"Thank you Marilyn" Christine said to her.

"No problem honey, now get out of here! It's Christmas Eve…go be with him" Marilyn said.

Christine smiled brightly as she got an idea.

"Where am I going?" Marilyn asked as Christine began to wheel her out of her room.

"You need to be with the one you love as well" Christine said as she wheeled Marilyn into Joe's room and placed her right next to Joe's bedside.

Joe woke right up as Marilyn carefully placed her hand on his.

Christine could feel the tears start to fall from her tired eyes as she stood by the door watching Marilyn and Joe reunite.

After a few seconds of standing there, Christine got an idea.

She ran out of the room and into the elevator going back down to the ER.

The doors opened and she stepped out looking around the ER frantically for Morris.

"Where's Dr. Morris?" Christine asked Frank as she ran over to the desk.

"Morris left about twenty minutes ago" Frank answered her.

"Thanks Frank and Merry Christmas!" Christine said as she gave Frank and quick hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Are you ok?" Frank asked her curiously.

"I will be" Christine answered him with a smile as she ran off to the lounge to grab her things, she wondered if any of the nearby stores were still open for last minute Christmas Gift buyers such as herself.

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HAS READ AND REVIEWED! I APPRICIATE IT A LOT AND IT MAKES ME WANT TO CONTINUE WRITING EVERY CHANCE I GET.

MORRIS LOVE!!!! 3 3 3 3 3 3


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